Reginald Bibby: Sex Education

Catholics Dept: Although some 14 million Canadians identify as Catholic, just 28 per cent of them attended monthly-plus services in 2010, while a scant 18 per cent turned up weekly. Even Catholics social attitudes appear to be in flux, with poll data showing increasing approval of premarital sex, divorce, sex education, same-sex relationships and even abortion in some cases, according to Calgary Herald. We ve got all these latent Catholics, said Bibby, a professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge. They re showing up for the occasional seasonal service, and when they want rites of passage they ll look to the Church, but beyond that most dont have any great inclination to be involved and As shrouded in mystery as this week papal conclave is, it pales in comparison to the inscrutable modern Catholic one who, according to the latest national surveys, is at once fiercely loyal to the faith as a brand but largely absent from its churches pews. Reginald Bibby, a leading Canadian expert on religious trends, says the new Pope challenge will be to build a bridge between where the Church is at and where its people are. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.